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Museum of Art
Artwork of the Week

'Night Street Scene' by Julian Joseph

July 01, 2025
Curator

Artwork of the Week: July 1

A painting of a busy city at night, with crowds of people on the left and cars on the right
Julian Joseph (United States, 1882–1964), 'Night Street Scene', 1948, oil on canvas. Brigham Young University Museum of Art, gift of George R. Nicholson, 1976.

Rising above a crowd of well-dressed urbanites, Julian Joseph’s Night Street Scene offers a sweeping view of post-war Manhattan’s vibrant nightlife. Warm light spills onto the darkened pavement from busy storefront windows and echoes across a sea of smooth bodied cars, punctuating the nocturnal cityscape with a cacophony of brilliant colors. A blazing red billboard in the middle ground outshouts the commotion of the bustling sidewalk below, demanding attention.

The affluent throng strolls through a corridor of middle-class entertainment and spectacle, accentuating the economic prosperity and rising consumerism that swept the nation following World War II.

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